“The Roxy,” one of the last Art Deco buildings left in Greenville, is located at 629 Albemarle Avenue. The story began in 1947 when Jasper L. Tripp purchased the lot and formed “The Roxy Theatre, Inc.” with Roy L. Tripp and J. R. Cullifer. They immediately set about building a theatre for black patrons which was completed in 1948.
John W. Warner, who managed the older “Plaza Theatre” on Albemarle Ave. was also a silent partner in the Roxy. Warner made several black films and eventually owned the Roxy Theatre. The theatre was leased in 1975 to Bill (Shep) Shepard and Buddy Alcorn, who turned the Roxy into a center of the arts, neighborhood development and popular parties. The Roxy Theatre building was bought in 1979 by William Myles Nobles, Greenville native and famous national songwriter active in the 1950’s and 1960’s.

After Greenville's Masonic Temple Opera House burned down in 1910, Samuel T. White sponsored the building of a theatre. Samuel Tilden White (1873-1966) a leading merchant and county commissioner, decided to build a theatre in 1914 after the Greenville’s Masonic Temple Opera House burned down in February 1910. In 1913, White hired Burrell Riddick as the contractor for his one-story theatre that included 700 seats, a large state, and balcony. White brought the best of Broadway road shows to Greenville. The theatre was leased in 1924 to Henry J. Paradon and in 1930 was leased to the Publix-Saenger Theatres of North Carolina. It became known as the “State Theatre,” opening on July 28, 1930. The theatre closed for several years in the 1950s, and Van Jones of Ayden reopened it on August 19, 1960. About 1972, it became known as the “Park Theatre.” Carmike Cinemas eventually owned the theatre, who ran it as a $1.50 movie house. The Park Theatre closed in 1999.